The seventh-ranked Morgan County Bulldogs faced unranked East Jackson in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs as a 19-point favorite based on the Maxwell projections. But it’s the playoffs and anything can happen, especially the projections not playing out on the field. They didn’t, and the Bulldogs were in the fight of their lives but escaped to see the next round with a 52-49 win on Friday.
The No. 8-seeded Bulldogs (10-1) took a 28-7 lead in the first half, but No. 25 East Jackson (4-7) went on a 21-0 run and tied it by the second half, and from there the Eagles never let up. Evan Johnson’s 35-yard field in the game’s waning seconds gave the Bulldogs the win.
They’ll host No. 9 seed Sumter County (10-1) in the second round.
“You know there’s no tomorrow in the playoffs and that’s what you’re going to get from teams,” Bulldogs coach Clint Jenkins said. “East Jackson threw everything at us and they did a great job, played a great game. We felt like we got up a little bit, some things happened, and they reeled us back in a bit.”
With the game tied at 49, Bulldogs junior quarterback Davis Strickland threw an interception that Jenkins said would likely have been a pick-six had Strickland not made a shoestring tackle as the Eagles returner crossed the 50 into Bulldogs territory. The Bulldogs defense held and East Jackson punted, setting up their game-winning drive. Junior tight end David Ainslie’s fingertip catch on a screen pass led them to the field position setting up Johnson’s go-ahead field goal.
“In the final minutes it was all three phases,” Jenkins said. “The defense held when it had to, the offense marches down the field, and special teams wins it. I was proud of our kids. They’ve got to find a way, because there are going to be games like this. You just have to figure out how to win, and it could be ugly. I’m really proud of us for getting that win, and give a lot of credit to East Jackson.”
Strickland finished 23 of 31 passing for 341 yards and four touchdowns to one interception, and his leading receiver, senior Jalen Elder, had three touchdowns and 131 yards on eight catches, followed by Aineslie, who had 140 yards and a touchdown on eight catches. Junior running back Christian Monfort had 231 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.
Sumter County was ranked as high as No. 5 but fell out of the rankings after a 31-0 loss to top-ranked Carver-Columbus in a Region 1 game Oct. 17. It beat No. 24 seed Union County 37-6 in Round 1.
“We have to hit the reset button,” Jenkins said. “It’s cliche, but we’re trying to go 1-0 this week. We’re going to address some things, and we’re always trying to get better. We’re a day-at-a-time, play-at-a-time type program, and we’ll fix the things we need to fix.”
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